Sound Basics

Types of sound in multimedia:

• music
• narration
• dialog
• sound effects
• interactive sounds

How digital audio works

Audio Formats:

• wav
• aif
• mp3
• mp4/aac
• wma
• ra/ram
• au
• sd2
• ogg vorbis, flac, shn

How to get audio into the computer:

• rip from CD - use a program like ITunes or CDex
• download files - from Web like findsounds.com or P2P network
• microphone input (or built-in mic)
• other devices into analog input

Audacity

• Tutorials

• Editing

• Looping

• Effects

Other free VST effects can be found here

Sound Examples

Sound Design for film:

• Star Wars sounds
• Master and Commander sound design

Foley sound

• Jack Foley interview

Radio Drama

• Old Time radio network
• more old time radio shows

Sound Art:

• Alvin Lucier - "I Am Sitting In A Room" (1969)
• Language Removal Services
• UBU Web

Sound Collage:

• Plunderphonics - "Dab"
• Matmos - music made from Liposuction sounds

Field Recording

DJ Mixing:

• Double Dee and Steinski - "The Lesson 3"
• Coldcut - "Say Kids What Time It?"
• Kid Koala - "Scratchappyland"

Mash-ups:

• origin and history
• mashmix.com
• jay-z construction set

Lab Exercises

• spell your name - with this
• find the following words, edit them out, rearrange them to create your own techno-poem: reference, speech, tone, waves, representation, transmission, average, emit, output, motion, particles
• practice looping this and this